


Singularity #1: "Skye"

by Marc_Quill



Series: Marc Quill's Singularity [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Adventure, Conspiracy Thriller, M/M, Mystery, Superpowers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-29
Updated: 2016-08-29
Packaged: 2018-08-11 21:49:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7908835
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marc_Quill/pseuds/Marc_Quill
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the first issue of Singularity, a young woman with superpowers finds herself in an urban jungle like never before. Faced with a past she barely knows and a threat that will stop at nothing to extract her secrets by any means necessary, can Skye survive this perilous journey?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Chapter I – Saturday Night’s Alright for a Fight**

**_An Unknown Wasteland, God-Knows-When…  
_ **

The harsh downpour of rain blanketed the nearly damp muddy grass of this rural area in the middle of nowhere. The area was empty and virtually deserted – save for a feminine figure wearing a gunmetal grey hoodie to not only conceal her face, but to also shield herself from the elements bearing down on her. For this woman, there was one instinct that repeated itself over and over in her head: run.

In a blink of an eye, the need to escape – to survive – escalated. Blood resembling an arrowhead design painted her hands in a palette of unimaginable pain that she knew nothing about. In her arms was a baby girl, one untainted by anything and inexplicably left in her care. The baby had one streak of light red hair sticking out of her head — the only recognizable trait that could be seen from the grey blanket she was wrapped in.

The child’s cries filled the empty air of the wasteland, but that didn’t deter the woman from helping her escape whoever or whatever it was that was pursuing her.

In any case she had to get herself and this unknown child out of wherever it was she was running from, with her breaths becoming even more taxing as the urge to free herself from this nightmare increased with every step.

Seconds became minutes, which eventually turned into hours.  She had no idea where she was or even who she was running from. The only thing that mattered was that she survived this ordeal to keep the baby in her arms safe.

Soon, groups of unknown armed soldiers got closer to where the woman was, transforming from featureless blobs into well-defined human-shaped figures as they reached their target.

But, at the very last moment, just when she thought she finally found herself liberated, two ominous lights approached her at breakneck speed. Before she could think for too long, the lights eventually overwhelmed her, sweeping the woman away to god-knows-where…

—

**_Toronto, Ontario, Canada –  January 16th, 2016_ **

Saturday nights in the nation’s largest city were always bound to be eventful ones. Groups of party-goers crowding night clubs in the hopes of finding a place for blissful euphoria, hockey fans roaming after seeing their home team win on a grand stage, and even just average folks looking to take advantage of a rare break from the wintery weather that had gripped the city of Toronto recently. This Saturday night, however, would be one no Torontonian would soon forget.

A moment of sudden lucidity immediately dawned upon the figure standing in the middle of the intersection of Queen and Jarvis Street – just as a truck began a high-speed collision course with her.

The figure stood silent, dressed in a brown jacket, beat-up blue jeans and white running shoes with light red accentuations. Her short, pixie-cut purple hair almost blended in with the night that blanketed Toronto, only being broken up by a streak of pink highlights along the left side of the front portion.

Miraculously, rather than being turned into a human-shaped mess right on the spot, the truck split into two, twisted metal flying all around and bouncing harmlessly off her body. What was formerly a fully-functioning truck was torn into a mess whose parts flew right into empty storefronts and sidewalks.

Meanwhile, the young woman survived, merely remaining stationary and none the worse for wear, save for her brown coat being slightly ripped by some pieces of metal. While a crowd of bystanders looking on at this astonishing sight were both impressed and left speechless, the truck driver didn’t share their sentiments.

“You ruined my damn truck!” He shouted as he jumped out of the car in anger. “You freak!”

The driver attempted to take out his anger at the purple-haired woman with a punch that landed firmly on her face. To the man’s dismay, _he_ ended up suffering the worse for it, again with the woman not feeling a thing. The angered driver’s fist bent in an unnatural manner upon striking the woman’s face, then collapsing onto the pavement. The driver clutched his broken left hand, screaming as loud as he could.

The woman didn’t have time to process the situation before two police cars pulled up and a group of cops exited, armed with guns. As she saw herself soon surrounded by police, the woman noticed a peculiar symbol on one of the cops’ badges: a stylized arrow – and the same one that was sprayed in blood all over her hands in that vision she was having. She had no idea on what it all meant, but she certainly knew that the symbol was a harbinger of bad news for her.

One of the officers — a blonde-haired man with sunglasses — approached the woman, hoping to peacefully negotiate a surrender.

“Miss, if you could just stay where you are and come with us peacefully, everything will be fi–” the lead officer stated before being cut off by the young woman running off.

“Don’t let her escape!” the officer told his subordinates, “The Chief is gonna have our heads if we don’t bring her back.” The cops followed suit in pursuit of the young purple-haired woman.

The young woman knew absolutely nothing about herself – except for the fact that her name was “Skye” — a name that was etched onto the dogtag she was wearing right now. She honestly didn’t know exactly why that particular name stuck with her the way it had for the entirety of her life on the run, but she felt a certain kind of familiarity with that appellation. As it stood, it was probably the only thing she could proudly claim as her own.

Right now, none that didn’t matter for Skye, who had much more pressing issues to worry about… like not getting apprehended or even shot dead by so-called keepers of the peace that probably wanted her dead more than coming along with them peacefully. Hell, they didn’t give a damn about not causing a stir as they fired their handguns repeatedly at the escaping Skye, much to the horror of people going about their night.

 _“Dunno what these guys want with me, but I’ve gotta find a way to shake ’em off of my trail… before anyone gets hurt.”_ Skye thought to herself, trying to quickly deduce the best possible way to lose the alleged policemen by making her way on the corner of Queen East and Church Street.

Fortunately for Skye, she found an alleyway near the Starbucks Coffee location that provided a convenient hiding spot. The cops tailing her were left distracted by scores of appalled people who mobbed the group in an apparent outrage. They were none too happy at the amount of excessive force being used to detain someone who did nothing wrong whatsoever.

The officers could not move as the mob grew to a slightly overwhelming size. The lead officer was forced to only look on as he saw Skye disappear into an alley and out of his sight.

—

**_Moments later…_ **

Skye rested herself against the brick wall behind the Starbucks, taking off her brown jacket, which bore two stenciled white wings on either side of the shoulder area. She used that jacket as a makeshift blanket for herself, something that was all-too familiar for her after an innumerable amount of years on the streets. She sat silently, deep thoughts dominating her mind of what had just transpired. Skye turned to see the CN Tower illuminated in a light blue, the very sight of Toronto’s iconic landmark catching her eye.

Skye had no idea how she even ended up in Toronto, her last whereabouts prior to tonight, or how she somehow attained the ability to survive something that would normally kill any other human being. Hell, she didn’t even have a good night’s sleep for days because of all that had happened to her. Alone and with nobody in the world to turn to; this was an all-too familiar feeling for her.

Regardless of that, Skye was used to being isolated forever, so there was really no point in self-pity — especially since there were more pressing matters on her mind… like why a squad of fake police officers wanted to capture her in the first place.

With that in mind, Skye pulled herself back up and put on her increasingly-torn up jacket again. Right now, staying hidden in the alleys was her only way of escaping the so-called “cops”.

—

**_Meanwhile…_ **

“Chief, we lost our suspect,” the lead officer reported to his superior on the radio, “we ran into…. some unexpected distractions.” he looked as news crews began to file in their vicinity, along with the already-agitated people that stopped them from bringing in Skye.

The irate voice on the other side had nothing but contempt for his people’s inability to take care of the “problem” that Skye possessed. Whatever it was that needed to be done had to be accomplished by either apprehending Skye or bringing her back to the chief as a dead body.

“Brandt, your astounding incompetence is displeasing.” this voice — who was indeed The Chief that the fake cops answered to — angrily reprimanded. “The night is still young, however. The Subject can’t escape your grasp for long.”

The lead officer echoed the instructions of his boss to his fellow officers, who only stood pat and tried to maintain some semblance of peace amidst the protests of the citizens of Toronto. Trying to arrest Skye had to wait. Their trigger-happy methods may have already blown their cover and put their unknown mission in serious jeopardy.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter II – Convictions of Strength**

**_Church & Wellesley, “The Village” – 10:30 pm _ **

The neighbourhood of Church and Wellesley is one of the most prominent LGBT communities in the world, a place that welcomes all walks of life, no matter who you love. Unfortunately, on this night, that love of equality was all but absent – at least in one corner near the former Maple Leaf Gardens.

Three lowlifes were beating away on a man with their baseball bats and anything else they could rummage. Their unjust hatred for equality and change fueling their utter contempt for their target. Scores of hateful slurs escaped their vile mouths as the beating continued in the back alleyway.

This caught the attention of a young twenty-something male in a dark navy blue winter coat, who simply could not stand idly by and let this act of hatred continue unimpeded.

“Finn, what are you doing?” the badly injured man weakly coughed out to the brown-skinned young man.

“I got this, Leo, just get somewhere safe,” Finn, the young man who was preparing to courageously take a stand, boldly called out to Leo, his best friend being targed by the three thugs.

_“I hope I do, anyway…”  
_

The three lowlifes soon turned their attention away from Leo and to the approaching Finn, who stood ready for a fight.

“Why don’t you three shitheads pick on someone that can fight?” Finn snapped angrily before assuming a fighting stance.

“Our pleasure, you waste of skin!” The lead lowlife bellowed before striking Finn down with the bat he was holding. However, Finn fought back and tackled the lowlife to the ground to gain a momentary advantage.

That advantage soon ended abruptly, as the lowlife’s two other buddies dogpiled on Finn and started pummeling on him. Raining fists and feet overwhelmed the young man, who was suffering for simply trying to do the right thing. (In the ensuing chaos, Leo managed to crawl away to safety behind a dumpster…)

The beatings stopped for a moment, due to the three lowlifes taking their time to appreciate their handiwork. Their mocking laughter filled the cold air of the alleyway. However, the trio’s smiles soon turned to anger when they saw Finn slowly lift himself up. His face was bruised to kingdom, his left leg was sprained, but he wasn’t done just yet.

“That all you got?” Finn coughed out, being left with having to use the brick wall behind him as leverage to remain standing. It didn’t matter how badly he was injured by the thugs, he was determined to defend his friend Leo to the bitter end.

Finn was never the strongest or toughest among his friends, but his never-say-die attitude more than made up for that — on most occasions. Unfortunately for him, the three thugs didn’t give a damn about his bravery on this night. They just wanted to make him suffer.

“Looks like ‘Hero Boy’ ain’t done yet, boss,” the scrawnier of the three thugs said, clearly still wanting to continue his twisted idea of “fun”.

“Well, I think we’re gonna enjoy putting you in your place…” the lead lowlife smiled, beginning to brandish a knife with the intentions of cutting Finn up for his attempted heroics. Before he could deliver the killing stab, a hand grabbed the lowlife’s knife-wielding arm at the very last moment.

The lead lowlife turned to see the purple-haired woman that had prevented him from finishing off Finn, only to get pushed back by an unexpected kick to the gut from the woman. The lowlifes, as well as Finn and Leo turned their attention to the figure standing right before them.

Standing boldly against the three thugs, Skye didn’t seem deterred at all by the odds that faced her. In fact, it appeared as though she _welcomed_ the fight that was ahead of her — as evidenced by the small smirk on her face.

“I don’t know what your deal is, but you better leave him alone now, unless you three all want to end up unconscious,” Skye said with a firm and determined conviction in her voice. She had no idea who was getting beaten down, but there was an instinct in her head telling Skye that she couldn’t just let the lowlifes have their way with the young man.

“You’d better fuck off somewhere else, little lady,” the lead lowlife responded, “otherwise we’ll beat you down even worse than the ‘Hero’ down there…”

“Step right up then,” Skye simply said, clearly ready for a scrap and positioning herself for a fight. “I’ve got all the time in the world to kick all three of you around this alley.”

“Aw’right, you asked for it, Switchblade, Nightstick: rip her apart!” the lead lowlife motioned to his cohorts, who swung their bats at Skye, but to no effect. The wooden bats splintered into a million pieces upon making contact with Skye’s back, leaving both Switchblade and Nightstick horrified.

The two thugs immediately got their bearings back and attempted to attack Skye in a two-on-one assault in the hopes of using a numerical advantage to gain the upper hand. Fists and kicks flew furiously, but neither Switchblade or Nightstick managed to hit Skye, who avoided the duo’s offensive flurry with a show of extraordinary reflexes and agility.

Even though Skye clearly wanted to knock some sense into these thugs, part of her couldn’t help but wonder just how she knew to fight them with such relative ease. As far as Skye knew, she had never been in any sort of fight whatsoever, and yet, here she was looking like she knew what she was doing.

Finn looked on in awe at Skye’s brawl with the thugs, noticeably impressed by her fighting. There was a certain elegance to the way Skye fought her foes, somehow complementing the brutally efficient fighting style she demonstrated. She moved at a borderline superhuman level whilst expertly evading the lowlifes’ every strike.

“Just put her out of her fuckin’ misery, you dumbasses!” the lead lowlife ordered his two pals, clearly annoyed that they were being outmaneuvered by someone as unassuming as whoever this mystery woman was.

Nightstick heeded his boss’s advice and pulled out his namesake weapon from a specialized holster he had for it. He took a wild circular swing with the nightstick, hoping to strike down his target with it. However, Skye dodged the swing by sliding underneath the weapon, which caused Nightstick to smack Switchblade with his signature weapon instead.

Skye didn’t waste any time in using the wall in front of her as a launch pad, leaping from it to perform a soaring backflip above Nightstick. Upon landing, Skye kneed him in the gut. The thug fell to one knee, but soon found himself flat on his face once Skye hit him with a hard spinning elbow to the back of the head.

Switchblade saw his partner knocked out cold by Skye and brandished a pocket knife from the front pocket of his jeans. He charged at Skye and tried to slice her up with the knife. Unfortunately for him, he was left whiffing at air repeatedly as Skye eluded each swipe of the knife without fail. On Switchblade’s last swing, he thrusted his knife hand forward in an attempted offensive move, but Skye grabbed the arm before lifting him up and then slamming Switchblade to the ground almost instantaneously.

The lead lowlife was red with anger at how a simple girl managed to effortlessly take down his two tough allies without even breaking a sweat.

“Do I have to do everything myself!?” He snapped angrily as he ripped off his black shirt to reveal a muscular physique underneath.

The lowlife leader picked up Switchblade’s discarded knife and rushed at Skye. Again, the young woman parried an attempt knife swing, followed by breaking the lead lowlife’s knife-wielding arm with a hard forearm strike to the elbow. Skye kicked the lowlifes’ leader into the wall, causing him to keel over in a prone position.

“S-s-stay the fuck away or I’ll blow your brains out, you crazy punk-ass bitch!” The lead lowlife threatened, with fear for his life becoming quite evident in his tone of voice. He pulled out a pistol and began firing away at Skye. While the force of the gunfire was enough to somewhat impede her movements, the bullets themselves did no actual damage to Skye whatsoever. The front pockets of her brown jacket were riddled with bullet holes, yet Skye didn’t feel any sort of pain from getting shot at.

“Hm…” Skye seemed impressed with surviving being shot point-blank. “How ’bout that?”

“Hey, Leo, are you getting a good look at any of this?” Finn looked to his friend, incredulous at the sight of Skye’s indestructibility. Leo peered his head from behind the dumpster to nod in approval and join in on spectating the action that was unfolding right before their very eyes.

The lead lowlife screamed with each round fired, but he could only look on as caked-in bullets harmlessly dropped all around Skye’s feet. Desperate and all out of bullets, the lead lowlife threw his pistol as a last-ditch attack, but Skye caught the gun in her hands — aided by her rapid reflexes and muscle memory. She then threw it back at the lead lowlife with enough force to cause him to fall over holding his stomach in pain.

“Looks like this ‘crazy punk-ass bitch’ just kicked your sorry, pathetic ass.” Skye taunted her would-be attacker before finally ending the fight by kicking the lowlife leader’s head in.

Skye stood resolute, having left the unconscious bodies of the three homophobic lowlifes strewn all around the narrow alley in her wake. Finn and Leo simply looked on in awe at what Skye just did to the assailants that nearly killed them.

This adrenaline rush of protecting a young man she never met before was a foreign feeling for Skye, but yet, it felt strangely second nature for her. The movements, fighting stance, and combat strategies she utilized had a degree of familiarity, but Skye couldn’t put her finger on exactly why she felt that tinge of immediacy to her fighting.

Finn helped himself up before turning his attention to Leo hiding behind a dumpster. He was gonna be okay, save for a broken arm. And a few bruises. Finn himself was considerably luckier, only suffering a sprained leg and a fairly-bruised face.

Skye turned her attention to the hobbling Finn, who was making sure that Leo would be okay. While Finn looked at his savior with a wide grin that somehow came through even with all the bruises on his face, Skye didn’t seem to share such enthusiasm.

“Hey, what the utter hell were you thinking trying to play hero!?” Skye shouted in an exasperated tone to Finn, “Those three scumbags could’ve killed you – and they looked like they were just about to finish the job if I hadn’t come along to help.”

“For your information, Little Miss Ungrateful,” Finn angrily talked back as he hobbled on one foot with Leo in tow, “I was sticking up for a friend of mine, and I had those guys on the ropes…”

“Clearly, you had the guy about to fatally shiv you with a knife ‘on the ropes’, gotcha.” Skye rudely responded, beginning to walk off into the night. She was clearly out of patience with the situation after saving a complete stranger for reasons she didn’t know.

“But, seriously, miss, thanks for the assist. I really appreciate it,” Finn hollered back, managing to get Skye’s attention in the process.

“What was that?” Skye asked in mild annoyance of Finn and Leo’s presence. She didn’t have time for any of this. She had somewhere she needed to be.

“I said, thanks… um…. whoever you are, for all your help,” Finn sheepishly lowered his voice once Skye turned around to face him. “I mean, you look like you need a place to stay, if it’s… not a problem with you or… whatever?”

At first, Skye tried to refuse, but she just decided that coming along with Finn was her best option at that point in time. After the night she had so far, any sort of an escape from it was much welcomed in her mind, no matter how badly she wanted to reject Finn’s kindness.

—

**_SafeHaven Toronto Youth Homeless Shelter – Later that evening…_ **

The SafeHaven shelter on the corner of Gerrard and Yonge Street was a three-level housing complex designed to keep the many at-risk youth of the city off the streets and into a warm home.

Skye followed both Finn and Leo up the front entrance and through the main lobby. The three entered one more door past the empty reception desk, which led them to a long, narrow hallway of apartment rooms. Finn’s apartment was the second one on the right side near the entrance.

“Ah, I forgot to introduce myself,” Finn said in a quick panic as he shuffled in his pocket to get his room keys. “My name’s Finch Finwick. Everyone just calls me “Finn”, though. This is my friend Leo. And you’re…”

“Skye.”

“Like the island in Scotland?” Finn laughed to himself at his very corny reference. “Tell me: does everyone really carry around bagpipes and eat haggish all the time there?” Leo chuckled at his friend’s wisecrack.

Skye rolled her eyes at Finn’s nonsensical rambling about her name — for the record, she had never even heard of the Isle of Skye or Scotland — as she then followed him and Leo into apartment room 105, ignoring their laughter in the process.

Finn’s apartment certainly wasn’t anything to call “home” – the dozens of newspapers, cola cans, and video game boxes prime proof of that fact – but Skye somewhat appreciated that she had somewhere other than the streets to stay in for the first time in quite a while. Her spotty memories and vivid visions of another self haunted Skye endlessly to the point of having no idea where she actually lived… if she even had a place to call “home”, anyway.

“There’s a couch by the TV and PS4 where you can sleep for the night, Skye,” Finn motioned to the couch as he helped set the badly-injured Leo onto the bed.

“Alright, but before we get comfortable, you mind telling just why exactly those thugs were beating the hell out of you?” Skye asked succinctly.

“If you really must know,” Finn said, getting a glass of water for himself and Skye, “Leo and I are both gay, and I was merely standing up for Leo against Skullcracker and his two buddies, who are the worst homophobes around.”

“I’d think Skullcracker, Nightstick, and Switchblade have bigger problems of their own if they run around calling themselves by those names and expect people to take them seriously,” Skye snarked.

“Anyway, they’ve been harassing LGBT folks around this neighbourhood for quite some time, and you handed them their asses like never before, so that’s really quite impressive that someone like you was able to do that, Skye.”

Finn had only gotten to barely know Skye for an hour or so, but there was something about her that made him want to get to know her better. Maybe it was how she saved him and Leo without any hesitation, despite never having met either of them.

“You mentioned that you and Leo were gay just now. Does that mean you and him are….” Skye began to ask awkwardly, clearly not wanting to make things uncomfortable.

“Oh, no. Leo’s already got a boyfriend,” Finn answered, “But, I’ve been his friend since high school. He’s helped me find my footing ever since I ran off from a foster family that couldn’t accept me for who I was. In fact, he’s the one that got me this apartment. Since we’re on the topic of sharing, mind sharing just what your deal is?”

“See, that’s the thing,” Skye said while drinking the glass of water Finn gave her, “I… really don’t know what my ‘deal’ is, so bear with me. All I know is that I get these weird visions of me – or someone else, and then on top of that, I learn that nothing can hurt me right as a truck comes roaring at me. Plus, of course, there’s the fact that I’m some badass fighter with superpowers to top it all off. So, you really won’t believe the kind of night I’ve had.”

“I’m sure you can see a psychiatrist about those visions and……YOU GOT RAN OVER BY A TRUCK!?” Finn shouted in amazement.

“Uh…” Skye responded matter-of-factly. “You just saw me survive getting shot multiple times with a gun, Finn. Surely, me surviving a head-on collision with a truck would be nothing for you compared to what you’ve seen tonight.”

“Eh, I just get excited by the most random things.” Finn shot an awkward smile. “In any case, it’s been a long night for all of us, so some sleep would probably do us some good.” He prepared his sleeping bag on the floor (Finn had agreed to let Leo sleep on the bed so he could properly heal) soon after.

“Y’probably right, ‘night.” Skye yawned before lulling herself to sleep.

“You too, Skye.” Finn mumbled, falling asleep almost instantly.

—

**_The Alleyway Between A Drug Store and The Cell Nightclub…_ **

Skullcracker was just coming to, his head still ringing after getting knocked out over two hours ago by someone that he thought shouldn’t have been able to do so. Before he could collect himself, however, the group of cops bearing the arrowhead symbol on their badges confronted him.

“Excuse me sir, but we got word of a violent incident occurring here not too long ago,” the lead officer — a man by the name of Samuel Brandt — said to Skullcracker. “Did you see this woman anywhere near here at 10:30pm?” He took out a photo one of his men took of Skye from earlier.

“aggggggggh…. huhnh.” Skullcrusher — still feeling the after-effects of Skye kicking his head in — was unable to string together a decent sentence, much less even stand on his own power.

“I’m sorry, _that_ is not the answer I was hoping for.” Brandt said as he pulled out his gun. “Thank you for your cooperation, please do not inquire again.” He opened fire at the head of the prone Skullcracker, instantly killing him.

“Graves, Jenkins, Fawkes: you know what to do,” Brandt ordered his fellow officers. And on his command, the officers shot at the recovering Nightstick and Switchblade, making sure to leave no witnesses to their dirty work. “As far as anyone else is concerned, we were never here.”

“What do we do now, boss?” Fawkes asked.

“We keep going. The Chief wants the Subject delivered to him. I won’t rest until we do that, and I don’t care who gets in our way.” Brandt coldly responded. He then ordered his men to get bodybags for Skullcracker and his two associates.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter III – Trial by Fire**

**_Finn’s Apartment – January 17th, 2016_ **

It was something of a miracle for Skye that she didn’t have one of her agonizing nightmares abruptly cut her sleep short. So she was somewhat relieved to hear the sound of Finn’s voice announcing that breakfast was ready, immediately waking her up.

“Oh, hey, you’re awake!” Finn said as he flipped an egg, passing one to an already-awake Leo. “I’m makin’ breakfast if you’d like some. I make a damn good omelet.”

“I can vouch for Finn’s claims,” Leo managed to vocalize, clearly ready to try his best and put the events of last night behind him. “He makes omelets like he’s on one of them TV cooking shows.”

“It’s fine. I’m not really that hungry,” Skye grumbled as she got into an upright position on the couch she slept on. She put her hands through her pixie-cut hair to straighten it once more.

“Speaking of the TV….” Finn dropped the frying pan, reaching over the remote to turn on the TV. At that moment, the first thing that appeared on the screen was a news report on last night’s events – specifically, the incident with Skye and the truck.

“At this time, local authorities have failed to identify the young female who miraculously survived a head-on collision at the intersection of Queen and Jarvis,” the female City-One News reporter intoned, “and they have also openly denied any connections with a group of police officers that immediately opened fire at the female just moments after the truck crash.”

“Skye… you never told me about those police officers that were coming after you,” Finn said in a slight apprehensive tone. “Were you in on any crimes or someth—”

“Look, Finn, those cops on the news, they’re not really cops,” Skye answered back.

“They seemed pretty real to me,” Leo added.

“Well, they’re not. Whoever the hell those ‘cops’ are, they’re not who they claim to be.” Skye impatiently retorted. “The reason I know is because I saw a weird symbol on their badges. Last time I checked, actual cops never had weird, spooky symbols on their badges. Nor do they try and outright kill a suspect.”

“Plus, it’s the same symbol I keep seeing in those dreams I told you about last night.”

“Fake cops, spooky symbols, vivid dreams. You mind telling me what all this craziness is about?” Finn questioned.

Without hesitation, Skye grabbed a piece of paper and pen, drawing a very rough sketch of the arrowhead symbol that refused to leave her mind. Finn did not know what to make of the symbol that was drawn on the paper.

“That….. is something I have never seen in my life, sorry,” Finn admitted. Despite that, he was still very curious about Skye’s story and whether there was any truth to it.

He personally didn’t know Skye, or had he ever met her prior to last night, but Finn felt obligated to show kindness to the young woman who saved his life.

“I don’t blame you, even I don’t know what that symbol means,” Skye said in a calm, yet firm voice. “but all I know is that it means nothing but bad news.”

“About your… unique abilities, have you thought about being a superhero?” Finn asked.

Skye only had a look of confusion at the proposition Finn had.

“Y’know, like Batman or Spider-Man or Wonder Woman or something…” Leo chimed in.

“I’m sorry to break it to you, boys,” Skye answered after a moment of confusion, “but I’m not really into the whole hero game. I just want answers on my mystery symbol and how it’s connected to whatever’s happened to me. That’s it. So if you’ll excuse me, I think I need to get the hell out of here. Sorry.”

Skye began to get her jacket and prepare to leave. She had to be on her way now. Finn stopped her from going any further.

“That’s fine and all, Skye, but what you really need is a place to work,” Finn nodded. “I’ll take you to The Poutine Shack and see what jobs they have available.”

“Excuse me?”

“Someone like you surely needs something to get your mind off those symbols you mentioned,” Finn pointed out, “What better way to help than by finding a job?”

Skye shrugged somewhat dismissively. She didn’t really care much for a job, but Finn did have a point about getting her mind off of the symbols and visions in her head, so maybe obliging him this one time wasn’t such a bad idea.

“Can I also come?” Leo asked as he tried to get himself up from his chair, but not without a lot of effort due to his injuries.

“You’re still hurt. I’ll call Miss Meads and see if she can get some medical help.” Finn winced for a moment as he felt his left leg numb for a moment.

Miss Meads was one of the people in charge of the SafeHaven shelter, someone who’d do anything to ensure her tenants would be safe.

“But, what about you, Finn? You’re also hurt!” Leo responded.

“Someone needs to show Skye around the area,” Finn said as he put on his shoes with moderate difficulty due to his injuries, “We won’t be long.”

“You better not,” Leo warned in a joking manner, “You know how I am when I’m bored and alone.”

“Y’don’t have to remind me,” Finn said, then turning his attention to Skye, who was rummaging thru his closet. “Uh… Skye, are you going thru my clothes?”

“If… you don’t mind. After all the crazy crap from last night and the past few days, I think laying low at the moment and not getting any unwanted attention is my best bet.” Skye said as she put on a grey sweater with a blue University of Toronto logo adorning the front.

“Now, don’t we have a job to look for?”

—

**_Yonge Street – Early Morning_ **

The way to The Poutine Shack at Yonge-Dundas Square from SafeHaven was a fairly lengthy walk – a good fifteen minutes away, to be exact. That was enough time for Finn to try and get to know Skye better on the way to helping her find a job. Then again, that was easier said than done, considering what little Finn knew about her, if the things he did know about Skye even had any truth to them.

“So, you don’t know who your parents were or where you were even born?” Finn quizzed as he and Skye walked along down Yonge past a bevy of stores. Skye simply nodded in response, not even actually paying much attention to Finn’s question. Her focus was on the urban jungle of concrete and lighting that surrounded her. Up until the past two days, Skye had never found herself in such an environment, always drifting in and out in a variety of locales that she’d never even remember long after leaving.

Behind Finn’s inquisitiveness for Skye was a degree of concern for this mystery woman he just met last night. Sure, there was always the chance that trusting someone like Skye would end up being bad news for him, but in Finn’s heart, he knew that Skye was an innocent soul hiding somewhere beneath her literally invulnerable shell – one that was being tormented in ways Finn couldn’t even tell just by looking at her.

“You told me that you ran off from your home last night, Finn,” Skye asked as the rain lightly coated the grey sweater she had on at the moment. “What made you decide that it was your best option?”

“Well, I wouldn’t exactly call it my ‘best option’,” Finn replied, still with a slight limp as he walked, “but, I just couldn’t be living under the exact same roof as the people who couldn’t even bear to look at me all because of the choices I’ve made with my life. I think I’m a lot happier living at SafeHaven than I ever was with my foster parents.”

While Finn was recanting his past, Skye found herself enthralled by a street performer painted in silver as if he were a statue. He moved rigidly, yet seamlessly, much to the impressed cheers of the people standing in front of the clothing store, Skye included.

“Are you even paying attention to me pouring my heart out, Skye?” Finn instinctively tapped on her shoulder. After a brief non-reaction (mainly due to her focus still on the street performer), Skye turned her attention back to Finn, then continuing the walk along Yonge.

“I never really got the appeal of these people performing out on the streets, to be honest,” Finn sighed to himself, “Leo can’t shut up about them, though. Neither can Stephen.”

“Who’s Stephen?” Skye asked in a modest tone.

“I’ll say only if you don’t get suddenly distracted by some other guy painted up in silver,” Finn said, his response met with a very unimpressed stare from Skye. “I’m only kidding. I mean, Stephen’s just my boyfriend. He’s currently out and about playing hockey for the Toronto Marlies.”

Finn knew Stephen O’Day since high school, becoming someone very close to him in no time. He had followed Stephen’s hockey career from that point on — even playing as his teammate for Norman Bethune Collegiate Institute’s men’s hockey team.

Before Finn could continue on, an explosion abruptly interrupted, with panicked citizens running past him and Skye soon after. Even the silver-painted street performer got off his platform and ran off in fear for his life.

One person that did manage to get a glimpse of the chaos alluded to a small truck parked right in front of the plaza that made up Yonge-Dundas Square inexplicably exploding and causing a multi-car pileup right in the middle of the Square. Finn decided to hobble to the general direction of the scene of the chaos. His leg was hurting, and he was badly bruised, but he just couldn’t stand by and let trouble pass.

Skye turned to see Finn limping his way to Yonge-Dundas Square and was a bit bewildered at his decision. Finn had already made his way to the two-car-high wreck and was itching to do something to save the trapped people in the cars. Once she got to where Finn was, Skye looked a bit exasperated at what he had in mind.

“You can’t do this, Finn,” Skye protested. “You’re hurt and there’s about five people trapped in those cars. You can’t possibly save them all by yourself.”

“That’s exactly what I’m go-AGGGHH!” Finn said before his injured leg prevented him from moving any further. He fell to one knee and favored the injured leg, looking like he was in some great pain.

 _“Ah, what the hell…”_ Skye thought to herself as she pulled up her grey hoodie to cover her distinctly purple hair. She really didn’t have time for any of this, but that instinct in her head was once again pushing her to do the right thing. There really was no choice. Skye was going to help save those civilians.

Finn soon recovered, then getting up and subsequently following in Skye’s direction, desperately fighting through the pain in order to help.

Skye grabbed the door on a dark blue car and forcefully ripped it out in yet another impressive display of strength. Finn pulled out the barely-conscious driver from the wreck, with Skye freeing the other occupant of the vehicle.

Not long after, two ambulances pulled up, with paramedics immediately jumping into action. Finn led the two already-rescued people to them. Meanwhile, Skye had already freed an older lady trapped in another car, with her superpowers proving to be a big help in this situation. She leapt onto the second row of cars almost instantly without missing a beat.

Skye’s memories may have been shot to hell, but her reflexes and physical condition didn’t seem to suffer the same fate. She moved as agile as anyone ever could — almost above the level of a world-class Olympic gymnast. The shrieking of two young kids led Skye to a sedan that was nearly on its side. She punched the middle door of the sedan, creating an opening for her to enter.

“I’m here to get you guys out, let’s get movin’,” Skye assured the two panic-stricken children in the sedan.

“Wha’about our mom?” the youngest of the two children asked.

“I’ll come back to get her, I promise.” Skye responded right away to keep the kids calm.

The children didn’t hesitate to follow her, latching on to her as they then got out of the vehicle. Skye took a deep breath and jumped to the ground below, with the children holding on to her for dear life. Upon landing, the two children ran to the paramedics, leaving Skye to return to the sedan to rescue the kids’ mother. She leapt back up to the second level of piled-up cars almost instantaneously.

While he was with the paramedics, Finn noticed gas leaking from the car that was directly beside the sedan with the trapped mother.

“Oh my god…” Finn mumbled to himself, realizing what could be possibly in store for his new acquaintance. “You have to hurry, Skye! That car beside you is gonna explode!” He tried his best to get to his feet to warn Skye of possible impending doom, but the paramedics held him back for his safety.

Back at the sedan, Skye pulled out the front passenger seat, then unhooked the seatbelt that was holding the mother against the driver’s seat. At that moment, she noticed the sound of fire igniting. _“Ah, crap…”_

Skye didn’t waste any time to get the mother free, telling her to get out of the sedan before it was too late. The car beside them began to erupt in flames at the same time. While the mother got free and made it to the safety of the paramedics almost right away, the same couldn’t be said for Skye.

The force of the explosion sent Skye flying out of the sedan and right into the rear cabin of one of the parked ambulances. The impact caused a large dent on the ambulance’s rear cabin as Skye collapsed onto to the pavement face-first. Finn didn’t waste any time and scurried to where she landed right in front of the dented ambulance’s rear cabin. He checked up on the barely-conscious Skye, who still managed to get to her feet slowly despite getting rocked by an unexpected fireball not even a minute ago. She was dazed and feeling a bit light-footed, but she’d be fine.

—

**_The Aftermath_ **

The usual assemblage of police, emergency vehicles, and news trucks soon surrounded the scene at Yonge-Dundas Square, with even some witnesses staying by to get a look at the chaos that unfolded moments ago.

Skye was still shaken up a bit by the explosion, but was largely unharmed. She sat on a stretcher and looked at the two children she saved reunited with their mother just nearby. Skye looked on wistfully at the happy reunion. She briefly thought about how she never truly got a chance to experience such tender moments, by way of the jumbled memories that she had no grasp on. Skye could only elicit a small smile upon seeing that family. It wouldn’t bring her any closer to solving the mysteries of the arrowhead symbol and the visions that continually attacked her mind, but it was enough to give her some perspective on life — if only for a brief moment.

Finn soon sat beside her and put his arm around Skye’s shoulder. In response, Skye shook her shoulders and shot a look of disgust, to not-so-subtly tell Finn to stop what he was doing. Finn awkwardly pulled his arm back.

“You just find new ways to impress me, don’t you?” Finn smirked at Skye, “As if you thought beating the stuffing out of three armed thugs wasn’t good enough for me.”

Skye didn’t even listen to Finn’s question, her mind clearly focused on something else. Her eyes were fixated on something far off. She recognized the blonde-haired man in a leather jacket standing far off near the Hard Rock cafe entrance. It was Brandt, one of the four “officers” that shot at her last night.

“Finn, we need to get out of here.” Skye suggested.

“Why?”

“Just trust me, let’s go…” Skye grabbed Finn by the arm and ran off, catching the attention of a couple of the paramedics working. Simultaneously, Brandt noticed the two leaving and left his area.

“This is Brandt,” the black-haired man spoke into a speaker embedded into his watch, “We’ve got our target. Requesting R.T.F. strike teams to follow my position.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter IV – No Turning Back**

**_The PATH, Atrium on Bay – 1:45pm_ **

Finn, having an acute knowledge of the geographic layout of the city of Toronto, suggested that he and Skye take the PATH — an underground pathway network connecting the city — to steer clear of Brandt.

“You sure that this is the best way to avoid getting caught?” Skye asked.

“Leo gets himself lost down here every time we take the PATH,” Finn answered by recanting yet another anecdote of his friend, “so in short: yes.”

“I doubt that the people coming after me are as laughably incompetent as your friend seems to be,” Skye commented, much to Finn’s mild annoyance.

The PATH along the Atrium on Bay had a fair amount of people walking about and mostly minding their own business. While news of the explosion on Yonge and Dundas and the superhero-style rescue that ensued spread, most of the people down there had their own things to get to at that very moment. That gave Skye a good excuse to keep her hood up to avoid being spotted. As she and Finn made their way south along the PATH, Skye noticed another man dressed in a leather jacket with a similar appearance to Brandt. Without saying a word, Skye pushed Finn to get them to keep going, eventually ending up into a crowd of people also walking south.

“Graves to Eagle Nest: I momentarily had eyes on her, but I lost sight of our target,” the leather-jacket man reported to his earpiece.

“Roger that,” the voice on the other line intoned. “All R.T.F. units, target is in play along the PATH, approaching the Eaton Centre corridor. Proceed with Operation: Repo Man.”

While Skye and Finn were making their way along the PATH, they noticed that the volume of people gradually decreased as they continued southwards.

“This seems…. very suspicious,” Finn looked at Skye nervously, his fears soon being confirmed by three of the leather jacket-wearing individuals stopping the two in their tracks. Brandt soon emerged and stood in front of his leather jacket-adorned cohorts.

“I don’t know how you’ve kept evading us all this time, but it’s over,” Brandt grimly warned, as he began to pull out his gun, “There’s nowhere for you left to run, Skye.”

“How’d he know your name?” Finn asked in a whisper.

Skye had no answer.

“Give yourself up right now and nobody — not even your friend — will get hurt.” Brandt said as he pointed the gun at Skye. His associates all leveled their weaponry towards their target not long after.

“Who the hell are you and what do you want with me?” Skye questioned indignantly.

“Trust me, this is nothing personal,” Brandt declared, “But the people I work for don’t like it when big fish escape the small pond. That’s where me and my Repossession Task Force come in. To make sure rogue Subjects like you are brought in without the trouble of a needless spectacle.”

“Your cooperation ensures that Singularity can be achieved.”

Skye was puzzled at what Brandt meant by that. However, at the same time, she loosened her stance in seeming understanding of what he was saying.

“Just stand down already, damn it. I don’t want this to end ugly for you or your friend there.”

Skye stepped forward to face Brandt, eliciting a look of shock from Finn. She looked towards him forlornly and then back at Brandt and looked like she was about to comply to his demands. Brandt ordered Fawkes to handcuff Skye, who didn’t even bother to resist. Finn couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He could not imagine that someone as bold and fearless as Skye was just surrendering this easily without a fight.

“There, now we can all put this behind,” Brandt leaned towards Skye’s ear. “The Chief will be most satisfied that he can continue our work.”

“Wait,” Skye whispered to Brandt. “Don’t you have anything else to say?”

Brandt looked towards Skye in mild confusion, noticing a cocky little grin beginning to form on her face.

“Because I’m all ears.”

And just like that, Skye bit Brandt’s ear, before headbutting him to incapacitate the leader of the Repossession Task Force. She subsequently broke free of her handcuffs without the use of her super-strength and stood ready to fight.

“SHOOT HER!” Graves ordered at his two allies. But before they could open fire, Skye charged at both Fawkes and Jenkins. While she managed to kick Fawkes’ gun away from him, Jenkins got in a shot with his gun, a shot that somehow managed to hit Skye’s abdomen. Skye clutched her abdomen and doubled over in pain, but she was still able to tackle Jenkins to the wall, knocking him out.

 _“What the hell…”_ Skye gritted through the abrupt pain she was feeling, confused as to why she was now suddenly bleeding.

Blood began to seep through Skye’s grey U of T sweatshirt. She struggled to stay on her feet as her legs began to tremble. Fawkes saw an opportunity and tried to engage her in hand-to-hand combat. Skye still managed to dispatch Fawkes, even with the bullet wound slowing down her usually-graceful movements. She knocked him out with a forearm to the head before tossing him through the window of a shoe store. After that, Skye fell to her knees, still holding her abdomen in a considerable amount of pain.

Graves saw this glorious opportunity and positioned his pistol to aim it at Skye’s head. At this point, it didn’t matter if The Chief wanted her alive. Graves was determined to just simply kill Skye and bring back her dead body to The Chief.

Finn had no idea how the weapons that the leather jacket-wearing men were using had the ability to harm the normally-invulnerable Skye, but he knew that Graves had in his hands a weapon that could easily kill her with one shot to the head.

At the last possible second, Finn dove from behind to push Graves aside, causing the shot to miss Skye completely, instead ricocheting above her into a wall. Graves grabbed Finn and punched him in the face. He then held Finn and pointed the gun at his head.

“You better just give up right now, or I blow your friend’s head off!” Graves screamed in clear desperation to get Skye’s compliance. The mission no longer mattered to him. He simply wanted both Skye and Finn dead.

“You get the hell away from him,” Skye sneered, her left arm still clutching the bullet wound on her abdomen. “He’s got nothing to do with any of this.”

“I don’t care. He dies. And you’re gonna die along with him.” Graves kicked Finn forward and tried to fire his gun. Skye could only look on helplessly.

However, no gunfire came out of Graves’ pistol. At that point, Finn turned around and revealed the ammo clip from Graves’ gun to his captor. He had removed it from the gun while he was being held up.

“How did yo—?” Graves stammered in disbelief.

“You talked too much.” Finn remarked. In response, Graves lunged at Finn, who ducked, causing him to leap right into the clubbing blow of Skye’s forearm clothesline. Graves fell down almost instantly. He was out cold.

“That shut him up.” Skye wryly remarked while looking down at the fallen Graves unconscious at her feet.

After that, Skye forcefully removed the bullet lodged in her abdomen, wincing in some very noticeable pain. She briefly looked at the bullet and noticed a peculiar blue glow around the pointed head of the bullet. She then put the bullet in her pocket to keep as potential evidence. Skye had no idea how that bullet managed to faze her, but she had every intention on finding out why and how that happened.

Finn was relieved that he somehow survived an encounter with armed men who appeared to have years of military-style training under their belts. More importantly, he was relieved that Skye was still fine despite suffering a gunshot wound to her abdomen. He went over to his purple-haired friend gave her a very comforting hug. At first, Skye resisted Finn’s show of kindness, but she eventually just let him have this moment, collapsing into his arms. (Though part of that was because she really couldn’t stand on her own two feet at the moment) Without his intervention against Graves, she probably wouldn’t even have a hug to enjoy begrudgingly.

As he was hugging Skye, Finn noticed that the bullet wound began to heal itself. Rather than mention it to Skye, he simply opted to just not let the tender moment be ruined.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter V – All In**

**_Hours Later – Brandt Has An Explanation_ **

The Eaton Centre corridor of the PATH walkway was cordoned off, supposedly due to a police investigation. In reality, it was under the authority of the benefactors that outfitted Brandt and his men. They had a great deal to clean up, as the unconscious forms of Fawkes, Jenkins, and Graves lined the narrow walkway — all of whom had their clocks cleaned by a particularly defiant target.

Brandt felt his ear for an instant, trying to gauge the damage Skye did to said ear when she bit on it before beating him down. His years of combat training and special operations work reduced to nothing. He could not believe it.

It was long after Skye and Finn had left the scene, but Brandt still couldn’t confound that his elite team of soldiers were beaten almost effortlessly by this one woman. That was something The Chief never let Brandt hear the end of.

“You failed to bring our target in, Agent Brandt. In fact, you failed three times,” the voice on the other side of Brandt’s communicator began his admonishing. “The incompetence of you and your men has allowed the Subject to run around unimpeded. We cannot let that happen. You know that.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Good. Get your men and regroup. We will discuss our future plans to deal with this problem at another time. Pray that I am in a better mood until then.” The voice signed off in a dark tone.

“I understand, Chief.” Brandt said as so-called “clean-up crews” all bearing the arrowhead symbol on their dark green uniforms appeared to literally pick up his men off the ground. He looked on at his men being stretchered away and only shook his head in his disappointment, before slamming his fist in frustration against one of the columns.

—

**_The Poutine Shack – Much Later On…_ **

Yes, even in spite of the day they’ve been through, Skye and Finn still somehow found time to make it to the Poutine Shack at Yonge-Dundas Square. The area was still being cleared of the vehicular debris and emergency crews were still occupying the area, but the two of them managed to take the PATH back to the YDS corridor. Skye still felt the effects of the bullet to her abdomen, but the bleeding had already stopped and she was okay, for the most part. She still felt a slight pain, but she’d live for another day.

“After all you’ve been thru,” Finn said as he dipped his fork to grab some gravy-and-cheese covered fries to eat (yes, despite his many bruises on his face, Finn still miraculously enjoyed his poutine), “I doubt that landing a job here is the least of your worries, huh?”

“You could say that,” Skye answered. “Right now, my worries are on what exactly that man from earlier meant by ‘achieving Singularity’. He and his cronies clearly know something much more than what they’re letting on.”

“He certainly knew who you were — or at least, your name.” Finn said, still enjoying his poutine.

“That there just makes me all the more curious,” Skye mused, still not touching her bowl. “Just like how the guns they were using managed to hurt me. Nothing adds up about all this.”

She pulled the bullet that was retrieved from the scene earlier from her pocket, showing it to Finn. The bullet in question had his full attention, unnatural blue glow and all. Skye immediately took the bullet and put it back in her pocket.

“Aww, I wanted to see it some more…” Finn said in a slightly whiny tone.

“Well, that’s the other thing I wanted to talk about, Finn,” Skye began to speak, but not before finally having some fries, “I know how enthusiastic you are and everything, and I appreciate all the help you’ve given me these past two days. But…”

“But…?” Finn was nervous about what she was gonna tell him. Bad news was sure to follow and he didn’t want to hear it.

“I can’t let you get mixed up in all of this any further. You have your own life with this Stephen guy to look forward to.” Skye declared in a stern, yet sincere manner.

Finn felt his heart rip in half. Not because he was in love, mind you, but because he felt that Skye really didn’t appreciate all the help he had given her today, despite her words.

“What about you?” Finn asked. “You know you can’t do this alone…”

“Just… stop worrying about me, dammit. You need to get back to your apartment, check up on your friend and forget you ever met me. For your own sake.” Skye coldly demanded. “Because sooner or later, your curiosity about me is gonna get you killed.”

Skye could’ve worded it a lot more nicely, but she did feel a great deal of concern for Finn deep down, only wanting him to be safe and away from the ceaseless madness that followed her.

Finn thought about Skye’s words long and hard. She was only looking out for his well-being, but he simply couldn’t bear leaving her behind just like that. Not when there was much more to know about her. He wasn’t gonna accept her dismissive-yet-well-meaning demands for him any time soon.

“I’m sorry, I can’t do that,” Finn answered after a long delay, “You barely survived down there at the PATH, and you’re gonna need all the help you can get to solve your mystery.”

“Like it or not, Skye, I’m all in.”

“I just hope you know what you’ve gotten yourself into.” Skye sighed, hoping that Finn wasn’t making the biggest mistake of his life by choosing to stick with her in the looming danger that was sure to come.

**Next Issue: “Miracle Monday”**


End file.
